Sleep Like An All Star (and make the most of your training)

Check out his informative infographic on from Fatigue Science on the importance of sleep to athletic recovery and performance. Many top athletes in their field sleep 9 hours and more and attribute that directly to their ability to train hard and be successful.

While you may not be an Olympic hopeful or have the luxury of training as a full-time job, making adequate sleep a priority will reflect positively throughout your work and training. Sleep deprivation can mean "increased levels of cortisol, decreased activity of human growth hormone, and decreased glycogen synthesis." [via Washington State University] This means slower recovery, slowed reaction time & lowered performance.

Bottomline: There is no substitute for a good nights rest & adequate sleep will help you perform optimally and recover faster. But if you find yourself running a little low, even a 15 minute power nap can drastically increase your productivity and alterness.